Exeter Fellow awarded key role in shaping the UK’s digital future

Luciano Floridi, Exeter College Fellow by Special Election and Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), is to sit on the Board of the Government’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. Professor Floridi’s appointment was announced yesterday by Rt Hon Jeremy Wright, Secretary of State for Digital Culture, in his speech at the open Data Institute Summit.

The Centre is the first of its kind, and was established to support work towards maximising the potential of artificial intelligence in the UK. In particular, shaping policy on how data-driven technologies are used, and crucially, to ensure that these technologies and data in general are used responsibly for the maximum benefit of society. It aims to analyse and anticipate gaps in the governance landscape, determine and set out best practice to guide ethical and innovative uses of data, and advise government on the need for specific policy or regulatory action.

Professor Floridi is best known for his work around data ethics and the relationship between philosophy and information. His research concerns primarily Digital Ethics, the Philosophy of Information, and the Philosophy of Technology.

Of his appointment and the role that he hopes the board will play in society, he said: ‘I am delighted and deeply honoured to be able to contribute to this crucial and timely project. Digital ethics can be an extraordinary enabling force to support technological solutions that are socially good, and the Centre places our country in a world leading position. I look forward to this important commitment.’

Rt Hon Jeremy Wright, said: ‘I am pleased we have secured global leaders from academia and industry to work alongside us as we develop the world’s first Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.

‘We are a world-leader in artificial intelligence and our modern Industrial Strategy puts pioneering technologies at the heart of our plans to build a Britain which is fit for the future. But it is crucial that the public have confidence it is being used to improve people’s lives and we have the right expertise and framework in place to maximise its potential.’